 Suspense tonight as we open a special limited series of five Friday night performances at this hour suspense brings you an incomparable study in terror this Edgar Allen pose the pit and the pendulum and a new setting as a radio play especially written for suspense by a contemporary master of the art John Dixon Carr as star this evening we bring you a noted actor of the New York stage mr. Jose Ferrer and as usual suspense is produced edited and directed by William Spear I was sick sick on to death with that long agony and when at length they unbound me and I was permitted to sit I felt my senses were leaving me the sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged into one dreamy indeterminate however yet for a while I saw but without terrible and exaggeration I saw the soft and nearly imperceptible waving of the sable draperies on the walls of the room I saw the flames of the seven tall candles which burned on the table I saw the lips of the black rope judges and these lips appeared to me quite white as paper fighters horror I saw them ride with a deadly locution I saw them fashion the syllables of my name John Dahlbre captain Jean Dahlbre good fathers gentlemen we hear you my son I am very weakened in firm I have been confined for many months in a dungeon I have been tormented by nightmares conscience one trust a silence for Antonio even now I have no knowledge of where I am or to whom I may be speaking you're speaking to me my son I am for our Pedro de Spiglia prior to the Dominicans of Segovia and Grand Inquisitor for all Spain is this the court of the Inquisition it is then God help me he will help you my son if you trust him but I am a French officer that is true a soldier and creature of the Archfiend Napoleon Bonaparte but a French officer nonetheless a prisoner of war by what right you try me in this court let the clerk read the charges against this prisoner pray silence while the clerk reads the charges the charges against the prisoner are as follows in primus that he is one Jean Dahlbre a captain of artillery in the army of Bonaparte so-called Emperor of the friend this means nothing is the prisoner says it is no crime proceed item that on the 4th day of September in the year of our Lord 1808 the said Jean Dahlbre did wed espouse and married that most noble lady the Donna Beatrice Valdes niece and ward of the illustrious one moment your excellency spoke for Antonio was any cheat employed to trap this girl into marriage against her will no we have no actual evidence of any cheat was the girl of age I believe so then where for is the prisoner here this marriage was a deplorable thing if you like Bonaparte himself is almost at the gates of Madrid his general assail menaces our city of Toledo itself but lawful marriage however regrettable is no sin or crime there are other matters in the indictment I think then continue but give us nothing that is not material item that on the 12th of October 1808 the said Jean Dahlbre being in command of a five-gun battery of light artillery did direct the fire of his guns against the Holy Church of St. Martha the innocent and thereby of his wicked malice destroyed that church utterly Captain Dahlbre is this charge true yes you admit it good father here what I have to say if you recall the church blew up would you boast of your sin young man it blew up because it was stored with kegs of gunpowder for your army I'd have rewrite to fire on it and that is all the defense you have to make I tell you I had every right to fire on it by military law is military law above God's law I don't know I did my duty long live the Emperor Captain Dahlbre hear the sentence of this court must I stand up to hear it I am very weak no you may remain seated I thank you most hungry at your offense in any except this the holy office would have been worse mark what I say no man however great is heresy is ever condemned to be burnt in the fire fire fire if he first recant and acknowledge the error of his way but for you Jean Dahlbre the only sentence of this court can be death death death the secular of government arm to which we must release you has devised two ways of punishment in cases such as yours you hear the tolling of bells I hear them it is the procession of the condemned going to the orthodophage soon the yellow light of the flames will stream through the windows and flicker on floor and ceiling get in horror mortis into his mounable domine in most of those condemned out of mercy will be strangled before they are burned cannot be so with you Jean Dahlbre you must die in one of two ways either with the diarist of physical agonies a slow fire of green wood ice bandages about the head and heart so that the fire does not approach too quickly not be silent for Antonio I cry your pardon grand inquisitor or else Jean Dahlbre you must die in a certain other way the law does not permit me to tell you now what this other way is it must approach you slowly and force itself into your mind it will stalk you like a tiger it must bring you face to face at last with the king of tariffs the sentence of this call I had swooned yet still I will not say that all of consciousness was lost there are shadows of memory which tell me indistinctly of tall figures that lifted me and bore me in silence down down still down until a hideous dizziness suppressed me at that descent into the earth there was a vague horror at my heart because of that heart's unnatural stillness then consciousness swam back to my wits again darkness stone floor and darkness oh oh Beatrice oh my wife did you call me John Beatrice was that you spoke yes you hear in the dungeons of the inquisition I am not really speaking to you my poor job I am only in your imagination am I mad then no but your brain is fevered you only think you'll hear me I hear you clearly as clearly as I once heard you in the little church near the abrow where we were married yes I destroyed that church Beatrice I had to it was my commanding officer's order I know John be comforted there are those who you won't leave me as long as I am in your heart I shall be here I was strong once but now I'm weak once I was reckless I'm afraid where am I be at least what are they going to do to me I cannot tell remember my voice comes only from your own brain are you fettered they have not chained you to the wall no they've taken away my uniform they've given me sandals and a robe of what feels like coarse surge I'm still free free take courage and in the grasp of the inquisition to Beatrice yes John it is completely dark as hard linear I've read to get up and I've read to stretch out my hand suppose they've burnt me alive courage can you then walk walk as far as you can measure the limits of the cell if this is not a tomb you're right Beatrice as always I'll try courage yes courage now pray for a poor devil who will risen at well one pace two three oh you are very weak John rest a moment yes where are you now Beatrice in the flesh I mean you know that John in the old house by the olive grove scorn of my people yes I know it each morning I climbed to the hilltop and watch go on sometimes I think I hear gunfields rumble in the hills and long moving columns with the red dust rising about them first come the heavy cavalry in bloom crested helmets on their flanks wheeling like hawks light has ours in blue and scarlet and behind them in a glitter of bayonets as vast as light points on the sea rank upon rank the long gray coats and tall bearskin caps of it is only a vision my dear one they do not come I cannot tell then I must face what has been prepared for me Beatrice I tried to walk I took some steps in which direction I can remember you're facing the same way I don't know perhaps then walk again try keep your hand in front of you this robe impedes me and the floor is treacherous with slugging I'll try four paces it can't be a two nine all right what is it my hand is in front of me lower than my face nothing job it's a pit circular pit and I fell on the very edge of it would have made you walk into it yes there's a loose fragment of rock just inside the edge if I can dislodge it listen that's it maybe that's yes but something else I heard it move so do I accident save me they would have had me plunged there symbolically like the descent of the soul to keep company with something else and quick death forms no part of their plan what is in the pit you can't say what you're saying save Beatrice save from the Inquisition my torture has been merely postponed sleep like that of death how long it lasted high no not but when I opened my eyes once again I could see yes see my prison was large and lofty its walls formed of massive iron plates bolted or joined together a wild sulfurous luster I could not trace its origin lit up the dungeon and the circular pit and the crudely dodged skeleton figures painted in evil colors on the iron walls skeleton figures demon figures gargoyle figures their colors a little blurred as from the effects of the damp and I must approach you slowly and force itself it must stalk you like a tiger it must bring you face-to-face at last with a king of terror I now lay on my back and at full length and on a low framework of wood to this framework I was securely bound by a long fastening resembling a surgical bandage bound but why why why why the bandage passed round and round my body leaving at liberty only my head and my left arm with much exertion I could supply myself with food from an earthen dish on the floor beside me it was meat highly seasoned and there was no it's Beatrice where are you I am here as always voice I'm stronger does it jump and I can see you now I can see you as clearly as I saw you months ago I wish it were true your bonnet and the parasol you carried in summer and the high wasted blue dress you are weaker my dear and more fevered have I been asleep yes they must have been here while I slept they have bound me why why why stop those voices stop them I am not here either you know don't drive me away look at the ceiling of this room 30 40 feet up what do you see on the ceiling a figure of father time anything else father time carries no sight he carries instead what looks like a gigantic pendulum from an ancient about one thing I swear I'm in my right senses I saw that pendulum move painting cannot move I saw the pendulum did it swung a little back and forth just like a real pendulum why not to trouble your brain father time is not like those are the paintings dogged on the walls the imps and devils and skeletons that pendulum is real it is take care take care of what you are not looking at the pendulum now take care of the rats the rats from the I see the swarming out in dozens you can see the glimmer one of them ran across them of your grace did it you know what do I want they have caught the scent of the meat in the dish beside it go go away you know your hand above the plate your move Beatrice where are you going I can hardly hear you sending me away I sending you away my poor loved one you can't bear to see the rats running about my feet can you even when you know I'm not here Beatrice yes it's true go in a cell swarming with vermin there are others I had rather see here I had rather see did you call me Captain Dalbray then in spirit I am here who are you don't you recognize me I am that second inquisitor for Antonio whom you thought unfair at your trial but we were not unfair we administer the law that is all go I come on you go not until I have first told you what you already guess wait is as the grand inquisitor said there are two forms of death for such as you one death with its direct physical torture the other death with its direct mental torture and I have been condemned to the second your guess is good listen do you hear anything yes I hear something turn your eyes upwards look at the ceiling the pendulum I the pendulum it has descended only a foot or so as yet as you notice it is not really a pendulum no no its underside is a crescent formed of sharp of razor sharp steel a ponderous weight Captain Dalbray its movement is slow now soon it will take on momentum will swing wider wider 30 feet perhaps presently as it swings you will hear it hiss and with each broad movement it will creep a trifle lower steel is directly above me yes above the region of your heart lie still and look up at it how long before you need have no immediate fear it will not be too soon but how soon in the name of pity give me some answer ours perhaps days its motion can be arrested while you sleep and now Captain Dalbray still in spirit I leave you to your meditation minutes hours days down steadily down it crept days past it might have been many days before it swept so closely as to family with its accurate breath the odor of the sharp steel forced itself to my nostrils the right to the left far why the streak for damned spirit to my heart with the stealthy pace of a tiger certainly relentlessly down I prayed I wearied heaven with my prayer for its more speedy descent I grew frantically mad and struggled to force myself up against that swing glittering death no avail down still unceasingly down still inevitably down the sharp steel flash past within three inches of my chest and then only then I heard you calling I am here strange thing Beatrice I am quite calm you are resigned no that is the strange thing even now I am not resigned is there a way out how can there be 10 12 more vibrations and it will fray the surge of my robe one slightly as a razor in a delicate hand there will be many sweeps before it bites deep I can't escape it and yet I could only use my wits kept me away from you Joe you locked me out of your thoughts why should I fear rats they still swarm here the florin over the meat and they have sharp teeth well meat is oily and spiced if I take what remains of it scatter you vermin rub that meat on the bandages that hold me John try maybe too late if I move my body a fraction of an inch up try it I tell you try but they are watching you I can see their eyes glitter they are creeping back my standings that's crawling across week and the flesh is leaped on the wooden framework another follows they are gnawing at the bandage seven eight more sweeps of the pendulum does the bandage give way a little life stills all I still doesn't rat snore his death I wonder worse than this a dozen sharp knives to do better the bandage is loosened to ribbons if you move sideways carefully I can't I have the steel is fragile over a minute more will be too late try and with all the power that is in me the heat foot that I have where my enemies see Joe the pendulum starts they are drawing it back up through the roof each move I make is watched you never doubted that yet with all they could do to you they have failed twice they will not feel a third time idea there must be no more dallying with the king of terrors I can't say see how the rats know and silence the bandage to what food I wonder have they been accustomed in the pit escape the pit I escaped escaped once listen what do you hear groaning a grinding is of metal only the cog wheels of the pendulum knife I think not Beatrice why not it seemed to come from behind these iron-plated walls it seemed to shake the dungeon as a male wheel might shake it it stand up my poor John get up off your knees I can't be at this I can't do anymore the paintings on the wall of this dungeon the skeletons and imps and devils they seem different they are different the sharpen group right the demon's eyes glare the skeleton hands outspreads don't you catch even yet the odor of heated iron heated iron I won't have you see me in tears I only you to go John in the name of heaven he commands the prison deeper glow settles in the painted eyes that clear at me I could run over there into my lungs against the loom of that fiery destruction the thought of the pit and its coolness came like bomb I stagger to the edge of the pit I look into it the at pimple walls and roof lighted to its depths yet for one wild moment even then I refused to believe the meaning of what I see does the pit please you captain Albray you again do you find its contents pleasing not the pit most of all got anything but the pit and how shall you avoid it look this dungeon has changed its shape that is true the walls are closing in it was formally a square and now that means slowly towards the center to force me into the pit of course it will force you along with me and apparently you must be told captain Dalbray that you are speaking only to your own sick fan see we are not here at all now flutter and flutter through the red burning walls with a swiftness that left me no time for thought I shrank back as the closing walls press me resistlessly onward at length for my seared and writhing body there was no longer an inch of foothold I screamed once I thought on the edge of the pit I averted my eyes there was a discordant hum of human voices there was a loud blast as of many trumpets fiery walls rushed back an outfit on caught my own as I fell painfully abyss it was the arm of general LaSalle the French army had entered Toledo the inquisition was in the hands of its enemies used edited and directed by William Spear tonight you heard mr. Jose Ferrer a star of the pit and the pendulum first in a limited series of five Friday night performances at this hour which will present radio's outstanding theater of thrills suspense night's radio play was adapted by John Dixon Carr from the famous short story by Edgar Allen Poe Jose Ferrer will soon be seen with Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Lorraine appearing tonight with mr. Ferrer were Jeanette Nolan John McIntyre Elliot Lewis Joseph Kearns Eric Snowden and Paul McBae music for suspense is under the direction of Lud Glaskin with original music composed by Lucian Morrowake next Friday same time we will again bring you suspense this is CBS the Columbia broadcasting system